Understanding by experiencing patterns

Författare

Peter Gärdenfors
Paulina Lindström

Redaktör

Peter Gärdenfors
Annika Wallin

Summary, in English

This chapter focuses on the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of understanding. We

propose that understanding consists in seeing or, more generally, experiencing a pattern.

Patterns can be experienced by all sensory modalities and in abstract thinking, but here the

focus is primarily on the visual modality.

We discuss how understanding by experiencing patterns can be achieved in learning

processes. The goal of education should be that students understand the material they study.

We propose that this is achieved by helping them to discover patterns that they cannot find on

their own. We also highlight the role of emotions in understanding, especially the subjective

experience of an aha-feeling, which occurs when a pattern suddenly falls into place. Finally,

we present some educational techniques such as visualizations, simulations, and intelligent

tutoring systems that can be used for pointing out salient features in a pattern.

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